Marc Fesneau, Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty of France, and Francesco Lollobrigida, Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry of Italy, announced last week the creation of a technical contact group on African swine fever (ASF) to strengthen cooperation that helps prevent the spread of the disease.

The two ministers announced the creation of a technical contact group bringing together experts from the two countries in animal health, wildlife and hunting, at regional and national level.

Cross-border cooperation is a central tool in the fight against ASF, in order to promote the exchange of information and harmonise surveillance and control methods.

The technical contact group will aim to coordinate strategies to prevent the spread of the disease. The group will organise the exchange of information between the different regional and national levels. It also plans to share experiences on operational management processes. The two countries plan on working on common strategies together, including the management of wild boar populations and wildlife monitoring. They aim to promote the identification of common scientific project, and to carry out operational cooperation for border areas.